Editorial: The first 100

Our first and foremost thanks go to you, our readers and contributors. You’re what makes this project work. Thank you for sticking with us, and for continuing to challenge, provoke, discuss and share your thoughts.

We entered the field of women in sports – thanks to insight and analysis from a British and Commonwealth karate champion and a biographical profile of one of the first women to give male racing drivers a run for their money.

One of the most interesting things about this project so far has been seeing how many different ways there are for women to be dangerous. Women in positions of power, women as decision-makers, women doing explicitly dangerous things – but also women going about their daily lives, going to the supermarket, dealing with difficult working conditions, being prepared to defend themselves, subverting expectations just by existing. Stories from women of the past have made us feel more connected to those who came before us, and poetry and prose have let us imagine ourselves beyond the boundaries of reality.

We also left the confines of our cosy blogosphere and ventured outside: Shami Chakrabarti, once known as Britain’s most dangerous woman, gave the 2016 Ruth Adler Lecture in Human Rights on 12 May here at the University of Edinburgh. You can read her response to being labelled ‘dangerous’ here (and we’ll let you in on a secret – Shami was well put out when Nicola Sturgeon took her dangerous mantle!).

Like we said at the beginning of this post, you are what makes this project work. Do you want to get involved and add your voice to the conversation? There’s still time to send us your submissions before the next deadline on 24 June! If you have any questions about the submission process at all, please don’t hesitate to drop us a line: we’re on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and email. And if Tumblr‘s your thing, we’re there, too!

Thank you for 100 posts – and here’s to 265 more. Only you know what the rest of this year of dangerous women holds.